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A Banner Day

Yesterday CCP announced the winners of the A Call to Art Contestand I am grateful, humbled and appreciative to have been selected as one of the two winners. I would also like to state right up front my appreciation for all the entrants, their talent, time and dedication to the cause of fan art in the Eve Community. Once again I'd ask that anyone that is interested should consider joining our Slack Creatives channel by clicking on the link in the sidebar.

In case you don't know the two winning pieces, and congratulations to “Sandcastles Before Me” by Kalistonius II the other winner, will be printed on large canvas and displayed in the CCP Customer Support office. In addition, CCP also selected several other submissions to be printed and displayed at smaller sizes in the office as well. Which I think was a great idea and I'm glad to see they did that. From what I understand they got a tremendous amount of submissions.

Here is the piece that I submitted:

Click to download

Those of you that have been following along might sorta recognize this piece. That's because it is based on an earlier Signature Wallpaper I did awhile back. I liked the original piece so much I decided to take an insane amount of time and illustrate the entire thing by hand.

Here is the original piece:

Also click to download

Now the original is made up of images drawn directly from the game assets and then manipulated in cunning photoshop Jedi fashion. For the mural I drew the Tristan's in my normal Wacom painterly method in Illustrator and then imported them into photoshop against the already painted background I had done earlier. Luckily for me, the original had been done at a high enough resolution to sustain the size changes needed for the mural.

Which is all technique blah blah blah really. The important thing is the art. And art is not about technique. The piece doesn't work because of the method in which it was rendered, it works because it is art. It evokes an emotional response and isn't just another image of spaceships in space. I can't speak for you or how the piece works or doesn't work for you, all I can tell you is how it makes me feel and what my intentions were. I wanted to capture the feeling I get when flying with one or two of my Corpmates in a small gang, out in the depths of space, burning towards God only knows what. The silence that hangs around you as you align towards a potential target, the vastness of the unknown, the depth of New Eden (which is where the idea for reducing the game map to a colorful blob of dots came from, and yes that is actually the in-game map by the way. Although altered, enhanced and distorted for visual effect).

I almost called it "The Lost Patrol", but that sounded false and rang hollow to me. You can't be lost in New Eden, not truly.

Anyway, I hope you like it. And I look forward to seeing the piece on the walls of CCP the next time I am there. Hopefully we'll get some pictures once they all go up.

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Speaking of art. I had no idea of the response the "Drifter Wars" piece would get. Once again the community has overwhelmed me and I have no choice but to enjoy the ride. Understand that I create in a complete vacuum when these pieces are being worked on, nothing has happened and nothing may ever happen. They are all potential, but a potential that only exists in the future. At the moment of creation they are nothing yet. Once I put them out there the rest is almost completely out of my hands. Will they live or die? I have no idea.

The Drifter War piece is a perfect example of how that sometimes works. It just took off and took on a life of its own. CCP Affinity contacted me and asked if Team Space Glitter could use the image as their banner, potentially getting t-shirts made, banners, etc. Of course I said yes, I'd be more than honored. And then later in the day CCP Manifest made it their Facebook banner!

What an amazing "banner" day.

Those of you hardened of heart may want to stop reading now. I may start to get a bit sappy in the following paragraphs.

For thirty years my career has been an insane amount of work. A struggle, a challenge, and journey that has been amazing, fortunate, and incredibly rewarding. But it was all clearly laid out in front of me and eventually I rose to the goals I had set for myself along the way. And, in so many ways, exceeded even my wildest imaginings. I became so bold that I quit my VP Creative position at a large advertising agency in the wake of 9/11 to start my own Creative Agency. That was insane. But it worked. And for the next eleven years I grew that seed into one of the fastest-growing agencies in the country. We competed for accounts from all over the world and went head-to-head with some of the largest agencies, for awhile we even won most of those battles. I was working 80 hours or more a week, traveling, working weekends. And then, for a wide variety of reasons, it was all gone.

People often ask me, why do you do so much work for Eve? The answer is simple. That journey, the one that was so clearly laid out before? Well its gone. It vanished in a horrible on-going divorce, an economic downturn, and devastating financial ruin. For the last three years I've been desperately trying to find my way. A new way. An old way. Any way at all. And I will tell you straight up that this amazing community of ours has been a lifesaver. Literally.

And when I try something new, something dangerous, something unknown to me, and it "takes off" around me - I can honestly tell you that it fills me with hope. And hope my friends, is sometimes hard to come by in this world of ours. It should not be under-appreciated. It should be cherished.

My sincere heartfelt thanks to all of you. I won't stop. I'm hoping that somehow, some way, I can build a new life and a new direction from the ashes of the old one. And, even if you don't know it, you are helping me do that.

Comments

Congratulations on your win in the art comp! To be honest, it just make official what the community already knew, that you are the best artist around. Just look at the pages on this blog.It's great to hear how your drifter poster has taken off also.I'm glad that you are getting something back after all the work you have put in to the eve community.Out of game, your time will come. Anyone with your drive, determination, and work ethic and talent don't stay down for long.

Thank you my friend. I freely admit a small part of this "break" has been on purpose, I really needed some time away from the rat race and stress of the last decade. It would also have been great if the divorce had ended last year as it was supposed to.

I can only submit my meagre congratulations on what is very much your own triumph. The 'Drifter Wars' image is *fantastic*, and if I didn't already have your Comet as a background, you can bet I'd have that instead. If there was any way to buy a physical copy, you bet I'd be there.

We haven't always 'got along' as commentators, but I'd like to thank you for putting yourself out there so continuously and graciously for EVE. I, and no doubt CCP, recognise just how amazing you are. I am not as talented as you, but you're someone I aspire to. Keep being a great role-model, pirate and human being. We'll be here, in EvE and on the blog, waiting for you. :)

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